In black and white
by Lily Rickman
Summary: Regina Mills is a young and succesful pianist that is studying in the internationally acclaimed Julliard School in New York City, but one day Emma Swan, who belongs in a completely different world than her, steals her heart. (AU)
1. Two Sets

**AN: **Yay! New Swan Queen story! I think the summary explains well enough where this story is aiming to.

If you've read any of my other fanfics you know how it goes, if not, just have patience on me because I'm (as this Regina) a piano major at a prestigious music school, so that keeps me busy. Even so, I hope you enjoy. When you finish please review/fave/follow and tell me what you think!

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><p><span>Chapter 1: Two sets<span>

Every chair on the stage of Carnegie hall was taken by crappy-looking musicians in every day clothes. Regina Mills went out of the stage door, followed by her friend and manager: Kathryn Nolan.

"Wow" she exclaimed as soon as she saw everyone set and talking with their instruments on her laps.

"Who's the concertino? She's super hot" she asked in a low voice to her blond friend.

"Oh my God, Regina. Don't you check who you're playing with?"

"Well yeah, I know the director and the overall orchestra but I don't read name by name! Just spill it Kathryn, who is shie?" she asked.

"Belle French, she's australian. Prodigy child that gave her debut concert at age 8 in Sydney. She got out of Australia to study with different teachers and give concerts aroud the world. She's taken classes with the only known alumni of the ever so famous David Oistrakh and came now to New York to take some theory classes at Julliard" Kathryn told her.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Hate prodigy children. Thanks Kat, I'm gonna rock this Mozart"

She finally walked to the center of the stage and everyone stood up, she signaled with her hand to make them sit down, shaking her head. She hated to be treated any different when each and every one of the musicians forming this orchestra had gone through the same path as her, except for the prodigy concertino. But even if she was an unbearable violin prodigy child, she was hot, so Regina approached her and shook her hand following the tradition just to be able to check her from closer.

"Maestra Mills it's a pleasure" the aussie said.

"Pleasure is mine" Regina answered. "I'm no maestra but thank you"

She walked to the beautiful and shiny Steinway piano that was placed in the middle of the room, she sat on the chair and waited for the director with her legs crossed. The director was a very talented man who had been a prodigy child of the piano but had had to interrupt his carreer due to the loss of control of his left hand muscles, it had been a tragedy but had been fixed when he found out he had great talent for direction, he was one of the best in New York. Regina greatly admired him and had also become her good friend. He was known as Mr. Gold or simply Gold. When he entered the room every musician but Regina stood up from their chairs, he, as Regina had done before, shook his head and made them sit again.

"Leave that to the moment wehave an audience filling this room" he said as he approached the podium. Before standing on it he went to Regina's side and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Ready?" he asked her.

"As ever" she said.

The man walked to his podium and stood up, he opened his music on the music stand and looked at his orchestra. "I want a clean rehearsal, is that clear? No funny business. One full runthrough as if the one and only Mozart was here in the room with us" he said, he had a funny accent, he was scottish.

Regina sat on the chair properly and looked at Gold, he looked back at her and waited, when she nodded he put both his hands up in one smooth movement and, as if magic was coming out of his hands, all the musicians lifted their instruments and placed them in the correct way to play. Gold again looked at Regina, who again nodded and he directed to his orchestra to begin. Regina listened the first notes and felt a chill go down her spine, she loved Mozart's 21, she always had, and this wa the first time she would play it with an orchestra. On the sixth bar she placed her hands on the cold piano, on the seventh she took a deep breath, and finally on the eighth she started playing.

She played softly but with desition, her favorite interpreter of this concert was of course the great Maurizio Pollini, she tried to capture as much as she could of Pollini's escence on her interpretation but without it being plagiarism.

The rehearsal was a success.

Regina Mills was a young, succesful and talented young pianist who was currently doing a piano major at New York City's finest music school: Julliard. Regina knew she was studying in one of the best music schools in the works, she knew she was studying with one of the best teachers of the world, she knew it had been a very hard thing to get in and that she had done her best at all times, but still her dream was The Fryedryk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland. All her friends said she was crazy, but Warsaw had been her dream ever since she was 15 years old and she would never give it up. In that moment she was 22 years old, two years younger than Martha Argerich had been when she had won the Chopin International Piano Competition. Regina was in love with Martha Argerich.

Regina was the daughter of Cora Mills, a legendary ballet dancer from the MET ballet company who had retired and gave classes at the dance academy of Julliard. Cora had always wanted Regina to follow her steps as a dancer but Regina had always been keen on studying music. Music was Regina's life, she had started playing the piano at age five and had continued doing it and actually getting more and more interested in it as time passed. She had been playing the piano for almost 20 years, same time she had been reading, almost.

Her debut concert at the Carnegie Hall the next day and she was more than ready to go up that stage and play Mozart's 21 in front of hundreds of people. She had been ready for a long time.

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><p>Emma Swan was a completely different story.<p>

Emma Swan was a pretty crazy young woman, she was always the party booster and she was always the one at the front on the wildest rock concerts. She lived a pretty hectic life, surrounded by a big collection of friends just as crazy as her. But even with all that party madness she was a very inteligent person that was studying a literature master's degree in Columbia with a very good scholarship thanks to her high marks. She lived in the doorms and shared room with hery very good fried Mary Margaret Blanchard who was also studying literature, the next year they would leave the doorms to share an apartment with their friend Ruby (who studied fashion) and their friend Belle (who was an australian violin prodigy).

Emma Swan loved her life, she loved the parties, love the classes, loved the city, loved it all. Plus, she was a total babe and she knew it, she worked out to keep her body in good shape but still ate more junk food than the whole of New York City together. Upper west side was awesome for crappy cheap pizza places and cheap bars with hot waitresses. Life was good.

The day Belle was on her last rehearsal for the Mozart... thing at Carnegie Hall Emma had stayed home for a Marvel marathon. She was half-way on Spider Man number 1 when her roomate opened the door to get in.

"Oh God" Mary Margaret exclaimed tired and threw herself to her bed, that occupied half of the small dorm room. "I'm so tired"

Emma paused her film and look at her friend. "What'd you do today?" she asked.

"I went out with David to this small museum. It was pretty cool but we walked all the way from the 23rd to the 86th because we had no money left for the subway. Never doing that again" David was Mary Margaret's boyfriend.

"Where's David?" Emma asked.

"He headed home" the pixie haired brunette put her hands on her head and closed her eyes, when Emma was about to press play on the remote control again her friend talked again. "You know tomorrow is Belle's thing at Carnegie. We should go. We must go. Are you going? Ruby's going"

Emma sighed. "I really don't wanna, not my kind of thing. But I should, right? If you go I go"

"Yeah, I'll go. We have free entrance but we have to call Belle to confirm"

"Okay, yes. I'll go but first I might have a Harry Potter marathon. What time is it at?" Emma asked.

Mary Margaret rubbed her eyes. "I don't know... six? Check the Carnegie Hall site online"

Emma grabbed her Samsung phone and searched for the website. She was an android fan. She scrolled down and didn't find what she was looking for.

"There's no Belle French here. Just the Nutcracker ballet thing, an opera thing, a piano thing and another thing" she said.

Mary Margaret frowned. "Gimme that" she said and extended her arm to be handed the phone. She scrolled too. "It's this" she said. "Regina Mills Mozart piano concerto 21"

"Oh okay. What time is it?"

"Six"

"Good. I'll have time for a decent Harry Potter marathon and we can go out of here at five" she said and pushed play to continue watching the Spderman movie.

Emma wasn't happy to have to go to the concert, but it was a friend and she had to do it. Also, she didn't know what Carnegie Hall had for her the next day.


	2. Mozart's 21

**AN:** All I can say is: Thank you so much! The first chapter got an amazing response and I am more than happy that you guys are interested in this, I've had the crave to write it for a while and I love that I finally did it.

It would be nice if you listened to Mozart's Piano Concerto 21 with Maurizio Pollini before, while or after reading, but if you don't I totally get it, not everyone is as enthusiastic as me about classical piano, but believe me, it's fantastic.

I hope you enjoy and please review/favorite/follow because that makes me want to write more. Any writing mistakes are mine so, I'm sorry if anything bothers you, you're completely welcome to blame me.

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><p><span>Chapter 2: Mozart's 21<span>

Regina Mills opened her eyes at 8:25, first thing she saw in front of her was a post-it pasted on her bed's head with Carnegie Hall written on it, she groaned and turned around to face the ceiling, what her eyes found above her was her old Martha Argerich at Carnegie Hall poster, she groaned again and while rubbing her eyes rolled over to her right side, she found herself looking at the little picture of the whole of Carnegie Hall full of people, she groaned again and closed her eyes. At 8:30 her alarm went off on her phone, her alarm sound was no other than the first movement of Mozart's 21, she extended her arm to shut it up and when she brought the small device to the front of her face she saw the alarm label: Carnegie Hall. There was no way stopping this, she was going to Carnegie Hall that day.

Regina pushed her sheets away, throwing them to the floor and sat up on her bed to then finally stand on her feet and walk to her bathroom. She opened the bathroom door and went inside, there she looked at her fairly swollen from bad sleep face on the mirror, her eyes were watery and her hair was all over her face. She ruffled her own shoulder lenghth hair softly and began getting rid of her sleeping clothes (which consisted of small shorts and an oversized tshirt), when she was completely naked she took one last glance of herself at the mirror: Small shoulders, toned arms, round breasts, small waist, flat stomach, prominent hips, long legs and well sized bum. Yes, everything was on place.

She opened the shower and put it in a good temperature, she let the warm water wet her whole body and took long to shower herself. About half an hour later she got out and covered herself with her robe after getting dry with a soft towel. She walked to the kitchen where she took plain yoghurt and berries out of the fridge and mixed them with granola to turn them into a full breakfast.

With the small bowl in her hands she walked to the wide living room where the half Steinway and the upright C.E. Bechstein stared at her, she shook her head, no studying that day. She went to her bookshelves, avoiding at all costs looking at her pianos, she grabbed the _Martha Argerich Collection 4: Complete Phillips Recordings _box and put the first CD in her CD player, the notes to Rachmaninoff's 3rd piano concerto started playing with the orchestra and then Martha's magic sounded through the speakers. Regina closed her eyes in ecstacy and then sat on her couch to eat her breakfast.

Before the second movement had started she finished her small breakfast but still she stayed on the couch to finish Rach's 3 and then listen to Tchaikovsky's 1. This was her favorite CD of all times, both the music and Martha's playing was amazing, though she liked the version directed by Charles Dutoit more, but there was no CD of that. When the last chord of Tchaikovsky's 1 finished and Martha's audience started cheering and clapping she stood up and bowed her head.

"Today's your day Martha" she said proudly and took out the CD to put it in it's place. She meant she was dedicating the concert of that day to the legendary argentinian pianist.

She finally walked back to the kitchen where she guiltily washed her plate and spoon by hand, she wasn't supposed to, it was bad for her hands, but she hated dirty things in her house and hated even more the idea of having a washing machine. After drying both the plate and her hands she walked back to her bedroom to put some clothes on and head to Carnegie Hall, she looked at the clock, it was already 10:30 and she was supposed to be there at 12:00.

Regina opened her closet door, she didn't own many clothes but all the clothes she owned were pretty, she hated all those musicians that got all dolled up before a show like they were actors in award shows, people went to concerts to listen to the music not to see the musician's make up or clothing, so she didn't own too fancy clothes. She shuffled through her hangers, almost all the dresses she owned were too short for her liking, as she thought that concerts were meant to be formal, and again, not the place to show off her body. After some minutes of going hanger by hanger she found the perfect thing: a simple white dress that went just below her knees with three-quarter sleeves and no cleveage, she paired it with high helled black shoes, brushed her teeth and hair and felt completely ready to go.

She grabbed her Strand bag (that she used as a hand bag) and placed everything she needed inside it, she went to the living room where she grabbed her music sheets from the Steinway, she'd need it back stage to read quickly before the concert. From her house phone she called Kathryn.

_"Hello?" _the blond answered the phone.

"Kat I'm leaving my home, see you at Carnegie Hall?" Regina asked.

"_Regina, are you driving for the first time in your life today? What car?"_ Kathryn asked.

"No, I'm going by train. It's really easy from here" Regina said simply.

Regina heard Kathryn gasp. "_Are you kidding me? Regina you're the fucking soloist at Carnegie Hall tonight, you're not going by train, I'm driving you"_

"Kat, it really isn't necesary" Regina said, but the other woman had already hung up.

Regina threw herself heavily to her sofa and patiently waited for her friend. She hated that Kathryn thought she was some kind of Hollywood celebrity, it wasn't like someone on the street would recognise her, maybe yes inside the medium, but music medium was very small and closed, if Martha Argerich could walk on the street in Brussels without anyone recognising her, Regina Mills could travel in the subway with absolutely no problem. But she couldn't complain, and she didn't want to complain. Kathryn arrived soon to pick her up in a black Mercedes.

"You look beautiful Regina, white suits you and your skin tone. I love that you went for simple rather than eye catching, after all, people are there for your music and that only. You'll play beautiully" Kathryn told her smiling when they were in the car.

"I could have used the train Kat" Regina said.

"Driving you doesn't cost me anything"

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><p>"Emma I'm leaving" Mary Margaret told the blond from the dorm room's bathroom door. "I'm coming back at five with David so we can all leave together okay?"<p>

"And Ruby?" Emma asked.

"We'll meet her at Carnegie, she's seated next to us" the petite brunette answered, sticking an earring in her pearced ear.

"And Belle?"

"She said she had to get to Carnegie at twelve because she had to rehearse and do sound check and stuff but we'll meet her after the show"

"Okay" Emma said dismissively and stood up from her bed to put the first Harry Potter movie inside the DVD player.

Mary Margaret finally walked out of the bathroom and looked at Emma. "Try not to melt your brain before Belle's show, will you? She'll want us to tell her what we thought" she said.

"Right, I won't but... what even is this show? I mean, Carnegie Hall web page didn't even have Belle's name on it, you said some name and piano Mozart" Emma said.

"How should I know? Investigate if you're interested but David is waiting for me outside so, see you later" Mary Margaret told her and immediately walked out of the dorm room.

Just in time the Warner Bros logo appeared on the TV and the Harry Potter theme came through the speakers, Emma paused the menu and grabbed her laptop from the small desk next to her bed, she put in on her lap and opened it. Imitating what she had done the previous day she opened her browser and typed on it, the neat web page appeared and she went to click the button that said concerts, the first thing that appeared was the picture of a piano with the words_ 'Regina Mills and the Julliard School Orchestra: Mozart Piano Concerto 21',_ Emma clicked on it and a new page displayed.

On the top of the page there was the name Regina Mills next to the picture of a young and beautiful woman, Emma read what it said: _Regina Mills (22 years old) is one of the finest students of the piano academy at the Julliard School of Music; she began her piano studies at age 5, taking lessons at home with the russian pianist and musicologist Nadia Petrovich, who was an old family friend through her mother (Cora Mills, the internationally acclaimed ballet dancer, coreographer and instructor). Soon after, both her mother and her teacher realized of little Mills' great talent and so they managed to get her classes with the Julliard proffesor Piotr Abramovich, who took her in gladly and when she was of age helped her to get into the academy. The Mills daughter has had a great amount of talent when playing the barroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach and has won many competitions with his music. Mozart's 21 is the first concert she has ever played with a full orchestra and will be her stage debut concert. Carnegie Hall has the pleasure to welcome her and the Julliard School Orchestra, together with the many young musicians who are debuting this year._

Emma nodded and proceeded to read about the director, the orchestra, and finally, the concert. It seemed to be a very played concert, which apparently made it harder for pianists to get a satisfied audience with it. Emma had never been a great fan of classical music, she considered it boring and too formal, but reading that she found many similarities between it and classic literature, she'd find out more in the evening. After reading every last bit of that page that she could find she shrugged to herself and pressed play on her movie.

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><p><strong>1:00 pm<strong>

"No, I'm not playing" Regina said for the fifth time. "I'll play whatever but the 21, if I do anything to it now it'll be a disaster, trust me"

"Miss. Mills, we need a last rehearsal, please" Gold insisted.

"I won't. If you want a rehearsal you can direct the orchestra and I'll sing my part but I won't lay a single finger on that piano if it means I have to play the 21 before six" Regina said, crossing her arms.

"You can't sing Mozart's 21" Gold told her, gesticulating exaggerately.

"Try me" Regina said.

Regina had arrived with Kathryn at Carnegie Hall just in time, she had directed the hall's workers to where and in what angle she wanted the Steinway, she had chosen the chair she liked most, she had gotten comfortable in her room back stage and had recieved the flowers that the stage manager had sent her. Everything had gone well until all the musicians dressed in black and the elegant director had sat on their places on stage and asked her for a rehearsal, Regina didn't want to play until it was time for the audience both because the more she thought of the concert before playing it, the worst she played and because she loved spontanity to happen to the point she didn't only impress the audience but also impressed herself. But Gold and the hot concertino and Kathryn and the guy that had to do sound check insisted.

"Regina please" Gold asked her again.

"No" she said.

They kept on arguing for about 10 minutes until Proffesor Abramovich (Regina's teacher) arrived to the hall and interrupted them.

"What the hell is going on in here?" he said in his strong russian accent.

"Miss. Mills won't play the concert for a last rehearsal" Gold said immediately, trying to push blame on her.

"No! I don't want to, you know why, I never play the day of the exam or the competition or the concert" Regina told her teacher.

"But this is an orchestra, we all have to rehearse, not you alone!" Gold exclaimed.

"I'm not playing!" Regina rose her voice.

"Shut up" her teacher said. "Both of you, shut up. Regina, did you bring your music sheet?" he asked.

"Yes" she said.

"Bring it, I'll play it but you turn my pages and I don't assure my interpretation will be beautiful, give me a tempo and I'm up for it" he said.

Regina thanked him and left, Gold agreed so that was a win for everyone. She came back soon with her pages and put them on the piano, her teacher sat and played with the orchestra, Regina admired him greately, it was true it wasn't a superb interpretation but he had been able to play every single note with the required dynamics and at the proper tempo, without rehearsing and probably having not played the concert in more than 20 years.

After the rehearsal Regina went to her room where she put her earphones on and listened to all of her Martha Argerich albums in shuffle with her eyes closed, eventually she fell asleep.

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><p><strong>5:00 pm<strong>

Fucking Belle, Emma thought to herself while she climbed on her pink high heels, she was dressed in a tight and short pink dress matching the shoes and had let her hair fall down in it's naturally waved form. She had had time to watch the first four Harry Potter movies and eat something small for lunch until Mary Margaret had returned with her boyfriend and had forced her to shower and change. Mary Margaret's boyfriend was a very handsome young man and he looked on point with a suit, Mary Margaret herself looked very beautiful in the yellow dress she had on. Emma didn't understand why she had to dress a special way for the concert, she wasn't going to be on stage anyways, but she couldn't complain.

When she was ready she went out, grabbed the small hand bag she was using and put a coat on. "Ready?" she asked the couple that was currently seated one in front of the other on the two dorm beds.

"Let's go!" David said.

The three young adults walked first out of the dorm room, then out of the building and eventually out of campus. They went to the nearest subway station and used the express train that left them 5 blocks away from Carnegie Hall. The outside of the Hall was very crouded, big prints of the face of the director and the beautiful young pianist hanged from the building and were placed on posters outsde, Mary Margaret gave Emma her ticket and avoiding the crowds they got in. When finally entering the auditorium they were all given little booklets that had the programme and all the information that Emma had read on the web site printed on them and, of course, on the front, a picture of the pianist, the director, and the orchestra standing on the stage, all dressed in black except for the soloist that had on a blue suit. Emma quickly found Belle on the left of the picture, next to the soloist and pointed her smiling to her friends, who laughed and then found her too on their own programmes. The places they had assigned were on the left of the auditorium and in one of the first rows, Emma realized Belle had placed them there because that was where they would have the best view of her, but she also realized it was the optimus place to watch the pianist.

They got to their places at 5:30 and little by little the place was having less empty seats, until eventually it was completely full. Their friend Ruby arrived too, dressed in a probably too short black dress and too tall black heels that made her alreay long legs look infinite. No one told her anything.

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><p><strong>6:00 pm<strong>

"Oh my God" Regina said, peeking through the small hole the stage door had for the musicians to see the hall without going out. "It's full"

"Debut concert and you fill Carnegie Hall Miss. You're shining bright" Gold told her smiling and getting near to hug her, all the anger from before had faded completely.

"Did you know Martha Argerich has stage panic? She canceled many concerts when people were already on their seats because she simply couldn't get herself to go out" Regina said nervously as the little group musicians that were still missing from the orchestra started going out.

"You and your Martha Argerich, it's going to be all right" Gold said.

The recorded voice of a woman came through the theatre's speakers. "Ladies and gentlemen, we remind you that the use of cameras or video cameras of any type is strictly prohibited, such as celular phones or any kind of communication device. Please turn silent mode on or shut off your phones in form of respect to the artists performing today. We hope you have a pleasant time"

Another recording announced last call, immediately after, the hot concertino went through the stage door and the audience clapped at her while she walked, kicking her long black dress, to the center of the stage. She played her tuning note and helped the whole orchestra to get in tune, when she was done she sat down.

Gold looked at Regina and she nodded, the stage door was opened for them and even before she could step out an overwhelming amount of clapping came from the audience, she walked outiside with Gold behind her and she saw the whole orchestra rise for them, she didn't look at the audience, just kept walking until she got to the concertino to shake her hand, Gold imitated her shortly after and then helped her turn around and bow putting a hand on her back. She thanked him in her mind because she was too nervous to think of doing it on her own. She again nodded at her friend and director and walked to sit on her chair in front of the open piano. As soon as she was sitting she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Here's to you Martha" she whispered.

The clapping had ceased and all the musicians were seated, she turned to face Gold and smiled at him, he smiled back, she nodded and he put his hands up, putting all the instruments in place with that movement. The strings started playing the concert and she forgot about all her worries. When the time came to put the hands on the keys and play she was so inmersed in the music she didn't even think of it. She impressed herself with the beautiful Mozart delicacy that came from her fingers.

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><p>Emma Swan swore she was going to fall asleep until not long after the begining of the concert the pianist started playing, she opened her eyes widely and got straight on her seat, she was almost sure she felt the whole room stop breathing and focus completely on the magical hands of the soloist. She listened carefully to the developement of the energetic first movement and was sad to have to blink or breathe until the soft ending of it, she was about to clap but realized the audience was silent, she looked at Mary Margaret who shook her head to leave it clear that she wasn't supposed to clap. She waited impatient the couple seconds until the second movement started.<p>

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><p>Regina was proud and impressed, she didn't have much time but she breathed deeply to calm all the emotions the beautiful fifteen minute long first movement had caused her, her favorite was the second and she was very excited to start. She looked at Gold who was already looking at her and nodded lightly. He started moving his hands soft and rythmically. The music started and Regina closed her eyes again, she danced with subtle movements, enjoying ever second of the fantastic and slow second movement.<p>

She played the imitation of the orchestra and her heart fluttered inside her chest.

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><p>Emma's jaw fell wide open, this was even better than the first movement. There was something about the way Regina played, the way she moved with the music and how she made it look so simple that impressed her almost as much as Mozart's compositon. You could see in each snd every one of her expressions and body movements that she was enjoying it even more than the hypnotized audience.<p>

Emma turned to see Belle, who also moved her left hand and right arm virtuosly, and found her looking at the pianist more than she was looking at her hands or her music sheets, all the musicians were like that. The second movement was much shorter than Emma would have wished for.

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><p>The pause between the second and the third movement was almost unexistant and also Regina started playing much earlier than in the previous two. She loved the energy of the last movement, so lively and so unique, so happy. She let many smiles escape her lips in the time it lasted.<p>

What Regina was doing that day at Carnegie Hall was giving absolutely everything, every last bit of energy and musicality she had was going to that Mozart and it felt amazing, partly because it was having just the effect she wanted it to have. Every member of the orchestra was also doing the same thing,

After a whole concert of 30 minutes, many solo moments, many silent moments and more than anything many beautiful moments she played, together with the other 80 musicians on stage with her, the last three chords.

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><p>On the moment the arms of the pianist left the piano it was as if an unhuman force pulled Emma and everyone else in the room up, Emma Swan stood up from her seat at the same time as hundreds of other people and started clapping as if her life depended on it, she looked around, roses flew all across Carnegie Hall and fell on the stage, she saw all the musicians stand up, turn around to face their audience and bow to them.<p>

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><p>Regina's cheeks hurt, she couldn't stop smiling and she couldn't believe that every single person in the audience was standing, it was amazing. She went to stand next to Gold, who pulled her in the warmest hug and then grabbed her had to bow with her, the entire orchestra was clapping too, either with their bows on their instrument or with their hands, having left their instruments on their chairs. Gold pulled her hand after some minutes and forced her to go out of stage, tears of happiness were running down her cheeks, she cleaned them and then followed Gold back to stage.<p>

The audience still clapped, and it continued for more than 10 more minutes in which she was forced to go in and out of stage several times. She was given another flower bouquet. Eventually the clapping stopped being a confusing rain and became a regular rythm in unison, people wanted more. She laughed and looked at Gold who smiled at her.

"I didn't prepare anything" she said.

"Let's play second movement again, it was beautiful, Maurizio Pollini would have been proud of you" he answered.

And there Regina lost it, but she had to announce what she'd give as a gift to her amazing audience. She stepped front and the room went silent after 10 minutes of being madness. "I had nothing prepared for such an overwhelmingly beautiful response but, I guess you won't mind us playing the second movement again?" she said loudly.

The audience's cheer was so loud, there was no doubt it would be absolutely no problem.

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><p>Emma was impressed, apart from being an amazing pianist she had a beautiful voice. She was glad that they were repeating the second movement because it had been the best of them all. Second time was even better than first.<p>

Emma didn't know how much time she had been clapping that night, but she was sure that with a single second more than what she had done her hands would fall off.

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><p><strong>7:30 pm<strong>

Someone knocked on Regina's door back stage, she was still shaking from the adrenaline shot that the concert had been.

"Regina?" she heard an australian accent from inside. "Can I come in? There's some friends that want to meet you"

"Sure, it's not locked" Regina answered from inside.

She heard the door unlock. "Regina it was beautiful" Belle told her.

Regina smiled. "You and the whole orchestra did an amazing job too. Who are your friends?" she asked.

"Oh" Belle said, letting her friends step in and pointing at them when she named them. "That's Mary Margaret Blanchard, that's her boyfriend David Nolan, that's Ruby Lucas and that's Emma Swan. They asked me if they could meet you because they loved the concert"

Regina thanked and shook the four friends' hands, but she had no idea of what she was doing. The blond girl was _beautiful._

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Once again thanks for reading! Any doubt on any music terminology or name of an important figure I might use on this chapter or later, my PM box is always open Note that there are also many made up names.

Much love,

-Lily Rickman


	3. When Regina met Emma

**AN: **As you may have noticed I took longer to update, sorry, I'm back from Christmas break on both highschool and music school, so yeah...

I hope you enjoy and please review/favorite/follow because that makes me want to write more. Any writing mistakes are mine so, I'm sorry if anything bothers you, you're completely welcome to blame me. Once again thanks for reading! Any doubt on any music terminology or name of an important figure I might use on this chapter or later, my PM and my tumblr ask box is always open.

Note that there are also many made up names.

Much love,

-Lily Rickman

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><p><span>Chapter 3: When Regina met Emma.<span>

"So Regina, some words?" her teacher asked her. They were sitting at a restaurant together with some members of the orchestra, her mother, Gold, Kathryn, Belle and Belle's friends.

After having been introduced to the concertino's friends Regina hadn't really had time to say anything but ask Belle if they were going to the dinner later, Proffesor Abramovich had almost kicked out the room's door and ran to hug her and congratulate her, then it had been her mother and then many people that she had been introduced to and then all the people waiting outside of Carnegie Hall's back door. It had all been a blur until she was finally seated on her chair at the restaurant's door, between her teacher and Belle's friend Emma and she was able to ask for a glass of water.

"Words?" Regina asked him. "No, I don't do words, sir"

"Regina Mills you just had your debut concert and filled Carnegie Hall, and were applauded just as much as the great musicians, you have to leave good, pretty, little, modest girl behind" he complained. "You're aiming for all"

"But-" she said.

"No 'buts' Regina" Gold said from across the table. "Just say a little something and we'll leave you alone"

"Please Regina, listen to them" Cora told her. "The day I debuted I had to talk in front of the whole company, and I was very proud of it"

Belle, who had been listening to the whole discussion without giving any opinion decided to talk at last. "Yes Regina! We want a speech" she said loudly.

The whole table cheered and Regina had no option but to stand up and talk. "Well I, I'd like to thank first than anyone my mother, who has supported me through this carreer even if she would have liked me to be part of a ballet company instead of an orchestra; I'd like to thank, of course, the mad and amazingly talented and patient and supportive proffesor Abramovich, without whom I wouldn't be anywhere near this table and who has had the possibility to kick me out of his class countless times but still has never done it; I also thank my great great friend and manager Kathryn Midas who helped me make this mad project true and who dragged me out of bed to study oh so many days; the talented, admirable, and very loved director Mr. Gold, who basically created Mozart's 21 all over again and programmed rehearsals on the days I less wanted to have them but then helped me enjoy them; the impressive Belle French, whom I just met yesterday and was the best concertino I could ever have wished for; the whole orchestra that did all the magic, to the ones that are here right now and to the ones that aren't too, thank you. I really couldn't be happier than I am right now in my life and it is an honor for me to be surrounded by so many amazing people today"

The table clapped and then Regina's beloved teacher raised his glass of wine, being immediately followed by the other people on the table. "To Regina" he said. "Who gave everything today on that stage and who will be my first graduated student in decades" the people laughed lightly and then clicked their glasses together, to follow the toast started. Regina thanked shyly and sat back down.

"So, Emma" she told the blond girl after meditating for a minute how to start a conversation without making a complete fool of herself. "What do you do?"

"College?" Emma asked laughing awkwardly. "I live in the dorms with a room mate, I go to parties on campus, I live my life on campus and I study when I have to"

Regina smiled. "Right, college. I never lived that. And what is your major? What do you study?"

"Literature"

"Oh nice, if you think of literature as an art rather than something else it is very similar to music and dance and visual arts" the brunette said.

"Yeah well, it is defined as something more complex than just an art but yes, I suppose so. I think that wether or not you think of something as an art is a very personal thing that you get to depending on what you have lived, what you have been taught and what you do" Emma told her.

Regina wet her lips with her tongue and looked at Emma's eyes. "Do you see music as an art?" she asked.

"I didn't used to" Emma said. "Until today. What you did up there was an art, and if someone thinks it wasn't then it was magic, but art exists and magic doesn't so..." she shrugged. "Do you think music is an art?"

Regina nodded. "Certain music is art, the music I study is art, I think. The music that needs of a long thinking process to be played and to be listened, the music that you have to go over the page to give life to, that is art"

Emma gave her a small smile. "So do you listen to music that doesn't fall into your definition of art?"

Regina opened her mouth to say that yes of course, she wasn't some kind of snob that only saw as worth listening to the things that fell into her definition of art, but then she thought more and realized that she was wrong. "Not really, but... I had never seen it like that. What kind of music do you listen to?"

"Pretty much everything but I'm not big on classical" she answered shyly. "My friends technically dragged me to your concert because I had to go to support Belle. I used to think it was boring"

Regina laughed lightly. "Yes, people tend to think that. I find music without structure boring"

"Right, so you're not big on parties?"

Regina shook her head.

"What do you do for fun?" Emma asked her, not able to imagine another kind of life than her own.

"I play alone, I play in chamber ensambles, I play with an orchestra, I read, I go out with my friend Kathryn, I go out with people. I don't know, there's lots of ways to have fun other than parties and life on campus" Regina answered.

Before Emma could say anything the waiters arrived to deliver each person seated on the long table a plate with steaming lasagna on top of it, Regina's mouth watered and her eyes shined, lasagna was her absolute favorite. She turned to look at her friend Kathryn who was just smiling at her.

"I know" the blond woman said proudly from across the table. "I chose the menu"

"Thank you Kat!" Regina told her happily and turned to her plate to take a first mouthful of the delicious italian dish. She hummed in delight as soon as she tasted the tomato sauce and grilled cheese, it was absolutely delicious. After some eager bites she turned to look at the blond girl next to her who was also completely focused on eating, she wanted to keep talking but she didn't know what about, so the most stupid question she could have asked came from her lips. "Emma? Do you have a boyfriend?"

Emma closed her mouth and put her loaded fork back on her plate to look back at Regina. "What?" she asked.

Regina shok her head. "Sorry, just... nothing"

Emma took a sharp deep breath. "I don't have a boyfriend, I've never had a boyfriend and I will never have a boyfriend. I kind of run on the opposite side of the road if that makes any sense. Why did you ask?"

Regina's stomach fliped when she heard Emma's confession, she opened her eyes widely and then forced herself to calm down. "I, I wanted to keep talking and oddly enough it was the first thing that came through my mind" she answered guiltily.

"That's all right. Do you?" Emma asked her.

"Have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah"

"No" Regina said and then quoted the other girl's previous words. "I run on the opposite side of the road"

Emma laughed at her. "No way!"

The young pianist bit her lower lip and nodded shyly. "Yes way"

"Wow well, Miss. Mills I'll drink to that" Emma said raising her glass and taking a sip of the dark red liquid inside.

Regina laughed and rose her glass too to take a small sip of wine from it. "I like you, Emma" she said looking into the green-blue eyes.

Emma smiled at her warmly. "I like you too, Regina"

They talked some more while they kept eating, they talked mainly about the concert because Emma insisted on talking about that topic, when eventually they were interrupted by other people on the tabe Regina had to talk more about what had happened on Carnegie Hall, she was happy on one side because after all she had been waiting for that moment her entire life, but she wished she could talk to Emma about something else, about her, she wanted to get to know the beautiful blond. No one had ever made her feel so nervous and yet so at home.

Eventually it was time to leave the restaurant, Kathryn was hurrying Regina to leave because she was driving her to her apartment but the brunette asked her to wait a second and ran to reach Emma, who was about to leave through another exit.

"Emma wait" she said, making the girl and her friends stop to turn to look at her.

"What is it?" Emma asked her, walking to be in front of her.

Regina took a marker out of her hand bag, she had used it to sign some authographs to the Mozart enthusiasts outside of Carnegie Hall, she grabbed Emma's arm my the wrist and scribbled her phone number on the palm of her hand. "Call me sometime, will you?" Regina asked her.

Emma looked at the small black numbers on her hand and nodded at the girl who had written them. "I will"

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><p>"Thanks Kat, I'll call you tomorrow" Regina told her friend when she got out of the car, it was 11:00 pm but she had absolutely no desire to sleep. She went inside the building's lobby and greeted the lobby man, Sidney Glass, with a small smile.<p>

"I heard you on the radio" he said from his sitting spot.

Regina blushed lightly. "Really? What did you think?"

"It was beautiful Miss, even better than when I get to hear you here. Not that you don't play beautifully on your own, but you know... it was all big and spectacular" he said smiling.

"Thank you Sidney. Let's hope there are more to come. Are there many people in the building tonight?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "Floor two and five only"

"Thank you" she said and after bowing her head she turned to walk to the elevator.

The building Regina lived in was a short building of 8 floors, each floor was a single big apartment and most of them were owned by rich people who only used them for short terms when they weren't living in other cities, that condition made it easy for Regina to study as much and as late as she wanted to, every neighbor was well aware of her career and had been warned about the posibility of late night study, prople actually seemed to like and appreciate it. The apartment had been proccured by her mother as soon as she had turned 18 years old because Regina's study had started bothering the neighbors from her childhood neighborhood, the place she was now living in was basically perfect.

Regina went inside her apartment, kicked her high shoes out immediately, turned the living room's lights on and walked to the windows to close the curtains. She walked to her messy bedroom where she took off her white dress and put on her pijamas, she then went to the kitchen where she poured herself a glass of water that she took with her back to the living room and after emptying half left on top of the upright piano.

The young brunette stroked the top of her full Steinway and opened it's lid to reveal the beautiful inside, she then sat on the chair and opened the smaller lid, she run her hands on top of the black and white tiles and after some seconds she started playing freely the first thing that came through her mind: Bach's Second Piano Partita. It had been a great day, it would be a good night.

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><p>Emma Swan sat on her bed in her dorm room, she had returned to the upper west side with her friends but they had all gone to different places and that was why she was sitting there alone. She had taken off her exaggerately high heels and her tight dress and had dressed in her favorite clothing: her pijamas. At 12:00 she thought on going to sleep but her mind was uneasy, she turned on her bed side table light and sat up, she opened her hand in front of her and saw Regina's neat numbers on it, she smiled.<p>

She grabbed her cellphone and dialed the number, she placed the cold device on her ear and waited four beeps until she heard the deep voice that belonged to the young pianist through the line.

"_Hello?_" Regina answered.

"Hey" Emma said biting her bottom lip.

_"Emma?_" the girl through the line asked.

"Yeah" Emma said, she stopped snd then talked again. "I didn't wake you up did I?"

"_No, I was just playing_"

"Oh okay. Sorry" the blond said feeling a hint of guilt.

"_No that's all right, I should sleep soon. It's nice to hear your voice_"

"Regina?" Emma asked anxiously.

_"Emma?"_

"When can I see you again?"


End file.
